Randy Brown has withdrawn from his UFC 296 welterweight opener fight against Muslim Salikhov due to an undisclosed illness, reducing the ESPN+ pay-per-view card to 12 bouts.
So, here’s the scoop. UFC 296’s welterweight opener is a no-go. Randy Brown had to pull out of his fight with Muslim Salikhov. Bummer, right?
Now, the ESPN+ pay-per-view card is down to just 12 bouts. Why? Well, some undisclosed illness forced Brown to step back from the event. It’s all going down this Saturday at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
But wait, there’s more. This isn’t the first hiccup for the UFC in less than a day. They lost their pay-per-view opener too. Ian Machado Garry came down with pneumonia and had to withdraw from his fight with his ex-training partner, Vicente Luque. Talk about bad luck.
But hey, every cloud has a silver lining. A featherweight bout between Josh Emmett and Bryce Mitchell got promoted to the pay portion of the fight card. Not too shabby, huh?
Now, let’s talk about Brown. The last time he was in the octagon was at UFC Jacksonville. He outpointed Wellington Turman, bouncing back after a submission loss to Jack Della Maddalena at UFC 284.
On the other hand, Salikhov didn’t have such a great time in his last outing. He lost on points to Nicolas Dalby at UFC Vegas 75. Tough break.
And the main event? UFC 296 is headlined by a welterweight title fight. It’s champ Leon Edwards versus ex-interim champ Colby Covington. And there’s more! A flyweight title fight between champ Alexandre Pantoja and Brandon Royval is co-headlining. It’s gonna be a wild ride!